infectious cupcake: day sixty nine

So you want to know what happened this rest of my long weekend eh? Sawa I shall tell you

The last post left of with R and I arriving back in Kakamega after what was a ridiculous matatu ride and slowly made our way through the marketplace, where R bought 3 avocados for 10Ksh (like 15c AUD) and then with my new found confidence, R bought a backpack which we managed to haggle down the price 200Ksh... yeah take that! I also tried out my skills on the guy selling pretty gumboots but he wouldn't have a bar of it. Shame.

At the moment the weather is like Springtime in Melbourne - it can start off cold and windy, then get hot and muggy, followed by torrential rains. At this time of the adventure it was hot and muggy so we decided a cool refreshing beverage might be a good idea... Purple Fanta anyone? Holy shit guys this stuff is the business! I never used to be a big drinker of soft drinks but over here this stuff is cheaper than water (35Ksh compared to 50Ksh) and can substitute a meal (for the budget conscious). Whilst enjoying our drinks in the comfort of Yakosupermarket along with samosas and doughnuts the sky turned black - literally - dark and scary and ominous.

In hindsight I should have done two things - bought those gumboots (they weren't that expensive anyway) and waited out the storm in Kakamega. But instead I did neither of those. Once I saw those clouds I said goodbye to R and headed back to my village - about a 40 minute matatu drive from Kakamega. During this time the inevitable happened - the clouds broke and the rain bucketed down like rhinos and elephants along with some rather sizeable hailstones which leave small bruises when they hit you.

Yeah... my bus stop is in the middle of nowhere and so when I got off I got soaked. Luckily there is a small structure which I took shelter under along with three boys who were laughing at their ngombe (cows) stuck in the rain. But the storm wasn't the biggest challenge I faced when headed home - no, it was the creek that runs at the bottom of the hill which had decided to flood. In flooding, the creek had washed away a few layers of topsoil and so what would normally be a shallow puddle ended up being water to my knees. By the time I made it up the hill to my compound I was drenched through and my shoes squelched with each step. To top it off there was no electricity so I couldn't have a hot shower. Yep.

Eventually the rains stopped and we made a fire outside where the boys cooked a cows head... yes, a whole cows head, brains and eyeballs and ears and everything. So disgusting. I just toasted marshmallows instead. During this time around the fire we discussed sex, which is where I learnt that apparently condoms can be used, emptied and then used again during the same session, that foreplay and other bedrooms acts are not really known, and that HIV is feared but they don't know anything else about other STIs. I'm sure this is not representative of all of Kenya, but it was certainly enlightening and hilarious when trying to explain certain *ahem* things. I seriously love my host brother and cousins, such good value.

Sunday saw me exploring the whole expanse of Kakamega County from Ivonda all the way to Lugari, with stops in Kakamega, Mukumu, Malava Forest and even Webuye. After the rains the previous day there was some flooding but that didn't stop Kevo from driving through those puddles. The landscape of this county is ridiculously breathtaking. These photos do no justice.